Readers' Pick: 20 Things We LOVE About Andaz Apna Apna

A movie as overwhelmingly loved as this underscores the power of cult over commerce.

The steady adoration showered upon Rajkumar Santoshi’s 1994 comedy, which neither made profit nor won awards like his other works -- Ghayal, Damini, Khakee or The Legend of Bhagat Singh, exceeds the conventional scheme of accomplishment.

Perhaps even its illustrious cast of Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor and Paresh Rawal don’t fully realise the extent of its impact on an entire generation that grew up on its zany humour.

There’s ample to enjoy in this screwball comedy about two good-for-nothings aspiring to get rich by marrying a millionaire’s daughter with a mix-up of names, lookalikes, crooks and bungled kidnapping thrown in good measure.

Any true celebration of a beloved film should involve the people responsible for making it so.

And so on its 20th anniversary on April 11, we asked you, dear readers, to tell us what you dig most about one of the most quoted Hindi movies of all time.

Here it is, your pick of 20 Things To Love About Andaz Apna Apna in no particular order.

17. What's in a name?

Andaz Apna Apna’s fixation with names produces quite a few moments of on screen madness.

If the mumbo jumbo behind the identity of Raveena, Karisma and Ram/Shyam Gopal Bajaj wasn’t droll enough, one finds more to chuckle about every time a Raniya beti, Tiloo or Paploo Taploo pop up in the conversation.

7. The rib-tickling idiocy!

Santoshi ensures the Khans play deliberate buffoons to enhance its madcap tone. And so you have scenes where the heroes, hands raised in the air, trail the villainous Crime Master Gogo holding a gun pointing at no one instead of trying to take advantage of the situation like any other normal hero would.

Far from it, they chivalrously remind Gogoji to take care he doesn’t slip on his ghagra.

3. The Bungled Kidnapping!

If the first half concerns itself with winning Raveena’s heart, hand and bank balance, the second tests Amar and Prem’s courage and smarts after her father Ram Gopal Bajaj is abducted by his evil brother Teja for extorting a sum of Rs 50 Lakh.

How it all unfolds from ransom to rescue cannot be described in words. The mirth that follows is what adds to the enviable repeat value of this cult classic.